


icarus should’ve strayed from the sun [but you are so much brighter than he ever was]

by beachbummer



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Selina adopts dick au, this is like trying wayy too hard 2 be deep im sorry i tried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-30 21:51:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17836799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beachbummer/pseuds/beachbummer
Summary: Night and day go hand in hand. Light and dark. First and last. They intertwine, without one the other would not exist. But while they may meet, it is more often than not they just barely miss each other.[AU where a bird was adopted by a cat, not a bat]





	1. Chapter 1

it was the first day of spring. a robin was born. a new mother had laughed breathlessly. a new father had cried. a new family was built. it was the day of firsts and new. 

it was the day sun peaked through the sky. it was the day flowers bloomed in bright crimson and powdery yellow. it was the day thin hands brushed away downy hair and rougher ones with callouses ran them down a smooth cheek. it was the day watery blue eyes peaked open for the first time.

it was the first day of spring. a robin flew home.

-

For every first, there is a last. 

A last breathe and a last laugh. 

Small hands rubbing at smooth pearls for the last time. Strong fingers guiding a scrawny shoulder for the last time. Quick feet skipping for the last time. A mother and father alive for the last time. 

The alley witnesses many lasts that day.

But the night witnesses the birth of something darker.

-

Night and day go hand in hand. Light and dark. First and last. They intertwine, without one the other would not exist. But while they may meet, it is more often than not they just barely miss each other.

-

A robin experiences a last for the first time. A robin feels darkness for the first time. But it will not be the last. A robin sees the bodies of those who taught him how to fly, how to love, fall down down down. A robin is too high up on a platform, flying towards the sun, and a robin cannot reach the bodies crashing towards the waves of people.

And in most cases a robin will have a hand fall down on its shoulder. A robin would have something to ground it and comfort it, keeping it balanced. A hand that would’ve held the robin’s wings, careful of not clipping them. 

In most cases, this was the prophecy.

But in this case, a robin is too high up, towards the sun. A hand does not fall, it cannot reach. A robin is left utterly alone with nothing holding its wings.

And so a robin becomes The Robin.

And Dick Grayson flies far too close to the sun.

-

A bat flew out of the alley on a cool night. A bat with a bleak outlook. A bat no longer feels like man. A bat is only truly itself when faced with darkness. A bat lives in sharp lines, black and white, right and wrong, justice and revenge. A bat is often times blind.

A bat spends many years like this.

In most cases, a man would appear in front of flashy lights and vicious reporters. A man would witness the first last of a boy. A man would comfort a boy, offer a boy something and cause a spark of light in the night.

This was not most cases. 

A man was put away, a bat flew instead.

A bat would intertwine and the myth of Batman would breed.

And Bruce Wayne would not experience light for a very long time.

-

The Robin is young, experienced first and lasts and new and olds left and right. The Robin is bound to stray. 

The Robin did not have anyone hold his wings and so he flies by himself. He strays.

-  
A woman knows very much that she is not light or dark. She is the clouds blocking the sun in the day. She is the stars sparkling away the darkness of night. She is grey morality and she is one with both.

A woman is as confident in shining lights with diamonds adoring her chest as she is in shadows with jewels adoring her pockets. 

A woman has a heart that beats every which way, a wildcard with no way of telling which way it’ll beat next.

A woman is fond of the shadows and the shine, and those who seem to fly away from what they knew.

A woman knows a struggling bird when she sees one, knows that The Robin was once pure light, and no longer feels as if he can still be that. 

A woman teaches a bird that there can be both. A woman takes in a stray.

And Selina Kyle meets Dick Grayson and shows him the way of both opposites meeting.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey kid, you don’t seem the type to be roaming around all by your lonesome.”

His mother’s voice was always warm. It held a certain sunny aspect to it, intermingling with an untraceable accent. Ambiguity and familiarity all wrapped in one. Her soft tone mixed with the harsh swears would wrap around him like a scratchy blanket that smelled just like home. His mother was a natural force, not a natural beauty. She was comforting and she was hurtful to those who deserved it. She let her painted red nails and glossed lips fool those who messed with her beloved. She would spit out those words with a bitter tinge to them, showing her spite to the Earth and what she felt about the world’s beliefs. 

Mary Grayson was the definition of bitter, beloved, believer.

“Kid, I’m talking to you. What’s your name?” 

This women had the voice of a river. It flowed and flowed and crashed. It seemed to be both, just like his mother. And yet nothing at all like his mother. This women’s voice was cool, collective, and deceptive. She seemed to hide a twinge of caring hidden underneath all the layers of crystals. This women was a natural beauty who adapted. Her voice was waves that crashed against heavy rocks and soothed those who were far away to not realize the true danger. He saw right threw those sharp goggles of hers and saw a women who was just as familiar and gray like his mother. 

The name Selina Kyle meant heavenly things and she was everything but.

“Okay one last time, do you have home or not? I don’t have all night”

He did not.

“No”

But Dick Grayson always thought of voices belonging to those of gray women was just as good as home.


	3. Chapter 3

“Don’t I need a new name? A whole different identity?” 

His father was the one to give him his nickname. His mother gave him Robin, but his father gave him Dickie. His father was the softie in the family, and those rough hands fooled nobody. He softly wept at every milestone of his son, smiling widely and unapologetically. He was a natural wonder, smitten with a force of nature. His father honored his brother by naming his son Richard. But he honored his son by giving him a name all of his own. His father knew the impact of words and used them purposefully, used them to kill with kindness, used them graciously above all else.

John Grayson loved loved loved and lost but would smile to his dying days like the gracious man he is.

“Yeah, unless you wanna end up in the pound, dummy. Any name in mind?”

Dick Grayson had many names, all tied back into meaning something inherently good.

“Stray”

And Dick Grayson chose none of those names.


	4. Chapter 4

Above all else the Graysons were performers. No exception, without fail. 

“Honestly, it looks like you’re trying to catch the Bat’s attention. Jesus, can we maybe take out a color or two?”

No Exceptions.

“No offense, Selina, but I’m not entirely frightened by the idea of a man dressed like a bat and fighting some clowns. But if it’ll help you sleep at night, I’ll limit the suit to black and red.”

Graysons also held a certain stubbornness that no one can ever truly beat it out of them. They were all a part of nature. Beauties and forces and wonders and disasters and performers. 

“I’m sorry I must’ve misheard you, birdie. I thought you said you wanted bright red ballet slippers as part of your suit.”

Selina Kyle was a natural beauty. Mary Grayson was a natural force. John Grayson was a natural wonder.

“Oh you heard me plenty, then. The red’ll hide the blood of foes when I kick them straight. Besides, I think they’ll go nicely with the red kitty ears, don’t you think?” 

Dick Grayson was a natural performer.

“Red kitty ears?”


End file.
